Ten football pitches worth of ocean floor devastated every four seconds

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Press release - 7 June, 2006

As the kick-off to the football world cup approaches, Greenpeace has revealed the shocking fact that every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields is wiped out by high seas bottom trawlers. Tomorrow has been designated World Oceans Day, but before it is over, a global fleet of around 300 high seas bottom trawlers will have dragged their heavy nets across an estimated 1,500 km2 of deep-seabed, destroying some of the most diverse, ancient and fragile ocean life on the planet.

The day before World Oceans Day, Greenpeace reveals the shocking fact that every four seconds marine life, in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields, is wiped out by high seas bottom trawlers.Volunteers, in true football style, raised their shirts and had 'S C O R E 4 O C E A N S' painted on their stomachs in a football pitch to highlight the enormity of bottom-trawling by comparing the 100 metre nets actually used to a real sized football field.

As the kick-off to the football world cup approaches, Greenpeace
has revealed the shocking fact that every four seconds, marine life
in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields is wiped
out by high seas bottom trawlers. Tomorrow has been designated
World Oceans Day, but before it is over, a global fleet of around
300 high seas bottom trawlers will have dragged their heavy nets
across an estimated 1,500 km2 of deep-seabed, destroying some of
the most diverse, ancient and fragile ocean life on the planet.

Today, volunteers highlighted the enormity of bottom-trawling by
comparing the 100 metre nets actually used to a real sized football
pitch in Haarlem, The Netherlands. In true football style
volunteers raised their shirts and had S C O R E 4 O C E A N S
spelt out on their stomachs as a message to governments of the
world to take action to protect the ocean today and for future
generations. Shirts were worn from the different nations of the
world who have either opposed high-seas bottom trawling or support
this devastating fishing practice. Visit the league table at
www.oceans.greenpeace.org/league-table

"If this was happening on land, there would be an international
outcry. It's a question of out of sight, out of mind with the
destruction of these beautiful ancient undersea worlds - and all
for just a few fish." (1) Said Sari Tolvanen Greenpeace Oceans
campaigner. "Huge bottom trawl nets are dragged along the seabed,
smashing ancient corals and destroying the other marine life which
makes up these fragile deep-sea communities that have taken
thousands of years to develop," she continued.

The deep-sea is believed to contain the largest pool of
undiscovered life on earth. Scientists estimate that 500,000 to 100
million species exist in the deep-sea. Greenpeace is part of a
global coalition of NGOs, over 1500 scientists and an increasing
number of states which are calling for a United Nations global
moratorium on high seas bottom trawling due to the threat that this
destructive fishing activity poses to deep-sea life.

"A moratorium on high seas bottom trawling would allow the
necessary 'time out' for scientists to assess the extent and nature
of deep-sea biodiversity and policy makers to develop legally
binding mechanisms for the protection, sustainable use and
management of international waters. The moratorium would be a step
towards one of the key solutions to the range of threats our oceans
are facing" said Karen Sack, Greenpeace International Oceans Policy
Advisor.

"Unless high seas bottom trawling is halted now, the entire area
of vulnerable deep-sea corals will have been trawled at least once
within the next 16 years - that's in just four World Cup's time",
said Sari Tolvanen.

The job is large but not insurmountable. Next week, world
governments gather in New York once again to discuss issues related
to the protection of deep-sea biodiversity where progress on the
high seas issues can be achieved. (2)

Greenpeace's campaign for a UN moratorium on high seas bottom
trawling is part of the most ambitious ship expedition ever
undertaken by the environmental advocacy organisation. The 14-month
long "Defending our Oceans" expedition is exposing the key threats
to our oceans and offering real solutions, a global network of
properly enforced marine reserves covering 40 percent of the worlds
oceans: places that will be protected from industrial exploitation
and destruction, from industrial fishing and hunting, and places
from which our oceans can begin the process of repair and
recovery.

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses
non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental
problems to drive solutions that are essential to a green and
peaceful future.

Notes: (1) At present there are about 250-300 high seas bottom trawling fishing boats and many of these are not full time. This is only 0.3 percent of the three million commercial fishing boats worldwide, and only 0.2 percent of global marine fisheries production. The overall contribution of high seas bottom trawling to global food security is negligible.(2) To see the full list of countries playing on either Ocean Defenders or Ocean Destroyers teams at the Greenpeace 'Ocean World Cup', visit the league table at www.oceans.greenpeace.org/league-table